England scored a come-from-behind 3-1 victory over the Football Ferns at Nicosia's GSP Stadium on 11 March to book themselves a place in the Cyprus Cup Final against Canada in two days' time. Needing to avoid defeat to top the group and secure an opportunity to avenge their defeat in the 2010 final, the Football Ferns got off to a flying start on a windy day in Cyprus' premier stadium, but only after Erin Nayler had kept out early efforts from Rachel Yankey and Eniola Aluko. In the seventh minute, Amber Hearn swooped on a Yankey error then evaded Sophie Bradley's tackle before thundering a twenty-yarder into the roof of Siobhan Chamberlain's net to open the scoring. "With the wind at our backs in the first spell, we dominated the first half", said coach Tony Readings post-match, "and dictated the pace and tempo of the game via our excellent ball retention". New Zealand's dominance forced England coach Hope Powell to make a triple substitution at half-time, and while Readings confirmed "it made the game harder for us, in tandem with playing into the wind", the Football Ferns were still on course for the final with twenty minutes still to play. Jess Clarke and Fara Williams both went close during this period, as did Hannah Wilkinson for the Football Ferns, but two further English changes twenty minutes from time saw one, Ellen White, make an instant impact. "They won the ball off our throw-in", reflects Readings, "then Aluko's pass split the defence, allowing White to produce a top finish via an angled drive to level the scores". At this point, the Kiwis were still in charge of their own destiny, but a minute later, a Yankey free-kick paved the way for a complete about-face in proceedings. "We dealt with the initial delivery", says Readings, "but not the second phase, Jill Scott's header back into the goalmouth allowing Aluko to fire England in front". This forced the Football Ferns to chase an equaliser, and they went desperately close to doing so two minutes from time when Hearn rattled the angle of post and bar. But England caught their opponents on the counter-attack soon after. Fara Williams' clearance was latched onto by Toni Duggan, who delivered the sucker punch as she beat the advancing Nayler to the ball and steered it home into an empty net as the game entered stoppage time. "In general, that was our best-ever performance against England", reflected Readings after the game. "It's normally a physical battle between us, but it wasn't so much the case today due to our dominance of possession for long periods. "So while the result isn't what we'd hoped for, and the players are disappointed because they played so well yet didn't get the outcome their efforts merited, in terms of our twin targets of Canada 2015 and Rio 2016, this is another step forward". England coach, Hope Powell, offered her thoughts on the game on the BBC website. "We weren't at our best in the first half, but we sorted out one or two things at half-time. "I brought the substitutes on to win the game and it worked. That was pleasing but so was our performance. I thought that everybody played their part and we were deserving winners". The Football Ferns now return to Larnaca, and will hope to have the injured figures of Ria Percival and Annalie Longo available for the third place play-off in the Cyprus Cup, a clash with Switzerland at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium from 1.30am on Thursday. England:     Chamberlain; A. Scott, Bradley (Bassett, 66), Stoney (Williams, 46), Houghton (Unitt, 46); Carney (Asante, 46), Nobbs, Yankey (Duggan, 79), Aluko; J. Scott, Clarke (E. White, 69) F'ball Ferns:     Nayler; Riley, Stott, Erceg, Green (Patterson, 70); Bowden (R. White, 75), Hoyle, Hearn, Hassett; Gregorius, Wilkinson (Collins, 60) The Football Ferns' play-off opponents were only determined following the conclusion of both Group

B matches. In those, Canada's Christine Sinclair scored the only goal of the game three minutes before half-time to earn her team a 1-0 win over Holland. That result meant the winner of the clash between Finland and Switzerland would earn a place in the third place play-off against the Football Ferns, and it was the Swiss who came from behind to clinch a 3-2 victory. Ramona Bachmann gave the eventual victors the perfect start by scoring in the first minute, but the Finns were in front by the 25th minute courtesy goals from Maija Saari and Sanna Talonen. But a Lara Dickenmann penalty on the stroke of half-time levelled the scores, with the game's lone second half goal emanating from Vanessa Bernauer just after the hour mark. Elsewhere, goals from Jane Ross and Rhonda Jones earned Scotland a 2-1 win over Italy, for whom Sara Gama reduced the deficit, while South Africa scored their first win of the competition as they defeated Northern Ireland 2-1. Lynda Shepherd's first international goal was unable to stave off another loss for the Irish team, as Robyn Moodaly and Jermaine Seoposenwe had already done the damage for the South Africans. In Algarve Cup action, the USA and Germany set up a clash in the final with contrasting results in their final group games. An Alex Morgan equaliser eleven minutes into the second half secured Team USA's passage to the showpiece match, after Lisa Dahlkvist had fired Sweden in front in the fourth minute of this 1-1 draw. Meanwhile, second half goals from Celia Okayino da Mbabi and Nadine Kessler booked the reigning Algarve Cup holders' place in this year's final, as they downed Norway 2-0. The beaten team will face Sweden in the third place play-off. Japan and China set up a fifth place play-off with wins in their final group games. First half goals from Kawasumi Nahomi and Yuki Ogimi secured Nadeshiko Japan's 2-0 win over Denmark, while China's 1-0 defeat of Iceland came about via Zeng Ying's 63rd minute goal. In Group C, Mexico clinched top spot thanks to a 3-0 win over Portugal, a victory built on the first half goals of Nayeli Rangel and Dinora Garza, who potted a penalty. Renae Cuellar confirmed victory on the hour. Meanwhile, an early goal from Wales' Helen Ward earned her team a 1-1 draw with Hungary, who levelled through Henrietta Csiszar fourteen minutes from time. Cyprus Cup details: England 3 (E. White (70), E. Aluko (71), T. Duggan (89)), Football Ferns 1 (A. Hearn (7))  HT 0-1 Italy 1 (S. Gama (74)), Scotland 2 (J. Ross (17), R. Jones (64))  HT 0-1 Canada 1 (C. Sinclair (42)), Holland 0  HT 1-0 Finland 2 (M. Saari (17), S. Talonen (25)), Switzerland 3 (R. Bachmann (1), L. Dicken Mann (45 pen), V. Bernauer (63)) HT 2-2 Eire 0, Korea Republic 0 Northern Ireland 1 (L. Shepherd (86)), South Africa 2 (R. Moodaly (64), J. Seoposenwe (68))  HT 0-0 Standings: A:  England 7, Football Ferns 6, Scotland 4, Italy 0 B:  Canada 9, Switzerland 4, Holland 2, Finland 1 C:  Eire 7, Korea Republic 7, South Africa 3, Northern Ireland 0 Algarve Cup details: Denmark 0, Japan 2 (K. Nahomi (17), Y. Ogimi (41))  HT 0-2 Germany 2 (C. Okayino da Mbabi (56), N. Kessler (87)), Norway 0  HT 0-0 China 1 (Zeng Ying (63)), Iceland 0  HT 0-0 Sweden 1 (L. Dahlkvist (4), USA 1 (A. Morgan (56))  HT 1-0 Hungary 1 (H. Csiszar (76)), Wales 1 (H. Ward (5))  HT 0-1 Portugal 0, Mexico 3 (N. Rangel (17), D. Garza (42 pen), R. Cuellar (61))  HT 0-2 Standings: A:  Germany 7, Norway 4, Japan 3, Denmark 2 B:  USA 7, Sweden 5, China 4, Iceland 0 C:  Mexico 6, Hungary 4, Wales 4, Portugal 3